Weapons ban won’t work

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The shooting at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn., has left the world wondering why it happened and what could have been done to stop such a tragedy. Is the world really going to end, or is it just those dang guns?

Some people may not have caught the news of the knife assault in China at a school the same day as the Newtown shooting. The same number of kids were attacked. Should they impose knife control next? Search the Internet, and you will find a variety of items used in assaults and murders. Forks, trophies, poison, even an assault with a bratwurst.

Please dear God, don’t get rid of bratwurst. Forks maybe, but not the sacred meat that sizzles on my grill regularly.

If one person had a weapon, the shooting during “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., or the Port Arthur Massacre in Australia in 1996 could have ended very differently. Most of the time, there is no need to shoot someone to get them to stop; just the show of force will curtail the attack. What if the principal at Sandy Brook had a Taser or pepper spray? Or that Adam Lanza had more professional help?

We can play the what-if game all day, but you still end up with the same problem – how to see the signs and prevent or help someone before they do something terrible. You can put a ban on guns, but instead of getting them off the street, you just get them out of the home of the neighbor who just may have saved your life one day. A criminal, which may come as a shock, does not obey the law.